NCC to extend telecoms services to 40m Nigerians

Following provision made in the 2017 budget, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) will extend telecommunications services to additional 40 million Nigerians across the country this year.

Prof. Umar Danbatta, executive vice chairman of NCC, disclosed this to newsmen in Abuja recently, adding that the commission had conducted a survey, which identified about 200 communities nationwide with telecommunication access gap.

Danbatta disclosed that through the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) being handled by an NCC department, 40 million people in these communities would be reached in 2017.

“The empirical studies have shown a correlation between usage of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and social development,’’ he explained.

He underscored that access to telecommunication services had caused a direct and indirect rise in employment generation across the sectors of the economy.

Danbatta said, “As you are aware, the growth witnessed in the telecommunication sector in the last 15 years had been phenomenal by all standards. From less than half a million lines on the eve of our democratic revival, today active connected lines are about 150 million, which has come with a contributing increase in teledensity.

“Development in other sectors of the economy had been shaped positively and measurably by the potent realities in the telecommunications sectors.

“We look forward to seeing greater development in the sector because we are irrevocably committed to full implementation of the National Broadband Plan.”